I was GOING to write a post about how potty training is going, but the Rule of the Internet* bit me in the ass BEFORE I EVEN WROTE IT so my update is this: GAH.

Wednesdays are my day off from Stroller Strides, but my day on for ALL THE OTHER THINGS. I clean and do laundry and meal plan and grocery shop and go to BJ’s for toothpaste because somehow we each have five unopened deodorants but zero tubes of toothpaste left. To round out my homemaker-y day I usually bake something. Baking (and cooking) is my love language, and even though no one in my family knows what that means they certainly appreciate pie.

But this week I made cupcakes.

Pumpkin cupcakes (based on a recipe I’ve seen on Pinterest and on Nicci’s blog this week and on the Weight Watchers message boards). Pumpkin cupcakes with mini-candy bars in the middle (an idea I will FULLY ADMIT I got from a rerun of 30 Rock last night – Liz makes them for the crew when she’s trying to be a Cool Boss and I jumped up off the couch and shouted “OH MY GOD WHY DIDN’T I KNOW THAT WAS A THING???”)

These might be the easiest cupcakes you ever eat way way too many of.

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Pumpkin Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes

1 box yellow cake mix
1 15 oz can pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
12 mini candy bars (I used Milky Ways and Snickers)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix first three ingredients in a bowl. Line a muffin tin with cupcake papers (or just spray the cups well with non-stick cooking spray). Use a measuring cup to fill each liner half way with the batter. Set a mini candy bar on top of batter, fill the cup the rest of the way. Bake for 23-27 minutes, until the tips of the top start to brown. Let them cool a little before you eat them, so you don’t burn your mouth on the melted caramel inside.

I made exactly 12 cupcakes and they puffed up pretty large. You could probably make 18 by filling each cup a little less, but I worked out the Weight Watchers points for 12 and each cupcake ends up being 7 points. Not too bad!

Review from my husband: Oh. These are interesting.

Review from the ladies at my knitting group: OMG THESE ARE THE BEST THING I’VE EATEN IN MONTHS I NEED TO MAKE SOME RIGHT NOW GET IN MY FACE.

Then I made mini pumpkin pies. Because, why the hell not? (Plus I had half a can of pumpkin left because I bought the big kind.)

p.s. Food photography is NOT my forte. I took approximately 500 shots to get these 5 pictures and they are STILL terrible. I need a class or a workshop or someone to just come do it for me so I can spend my time baking more things while they artfully scatter pumpkin seeds and half-folded napkins around a pure white plate.

*The Rule of the Internet: As soon as you write about how your baby sleeps through the night/eats tons of vegetables/never cries on your blog/never bites his sister, your baby will stop sleeping through the night/eating vegetables/start crying all the time/bite everything all the time.

Thing #1 – Leave them on the ground and let them turn into pine trees like God intended. Because unless you have a herd of toddlers to put to work, why the hell would you waste perfectly good time picking up pine cones?*

First, bake them in the oven at 250 for 20 minutes to kill the spiders/bugs/nasty fungus stuff that might be living in them. Because nothing ruins the charming fall decor at your dinner party like poisonous spider bites as parting gifts for your guests.

Thing #2 – Roll them in acrylic paint and put them in a rustic basket as a centerpiece.

Thing #3 – Spray paint them and put them in a glass vase.

TODDLER FINGER PHOTOBOMB!

Thing #4 -Wrap the stem ends in yarn and make a garland.

Thing #5 – Cover them with spray adhesive and glitter and hang them up.

Thing #6 – Spread them with peanut butter and bird seed to make a bird feeder.

Thing #7 -Make scented potpourri: Put them in a ziplock bag & spray with adhesive, add cinnamon/cloves/lemon zest/pumpkin pie spice. Close & shake, open and sniff.

TA-DA! You just wasted your entire stay-at-home-lazy-day making pointless pinecone crafts!

*No toddler labor was exploited in the making of these crafts. Ok, maybe just a LITTLE toddler labor. But they liked it.

I didn’t do very well this week and the pics I did take are a little boring. But to be fair, how many pictures of the inside of a hospital room can you take? Especially when your iPhone is dead? At least I got the kid looking cute in a couple.

Sunday:

My in-laws brought us this box full of homemade jam & pie filling. Then we used it as a baby race car. Wins for everyone!!

We discovered the trick to a peaceful meal is a kid's cup of lemonade served with a straw. Small price to pay to avoid a bottle of ketchup to the face.

Monday:

This is the cutest I've looked in WEEKS. Headband by Uff Da, knit shrug made by me, (non-maternity) shirt from Target, adorable toddler crashing my picture also by me.

E's sudden panic!! over yardwork led to some raking in the dark. At least it was warm.

Wednesday:

Hospital lunch. I have no idea what was even in there - it appeared and disappeared while I was too sick to even THINK about food.

Thursday:

Saddest family Thanksgiving picture ever.

Friday:

You can tell I was feeling better because I could actually SIT UP enough to knit, even hooked to an IV.

Saturday:

So good to be home & back to normal toddler mornings: milk, peanut butter and a football to cuddle while we watch the Today Show.

Apparently the "insanely busy" Christmas shopping season forgot about the day after the day after Thanksgiving. Scored those luggage sets Macy's has been advertising all week and discovered rolling carry-ons are Little Evan's favorite toy EVER.

Link up with the hop below and go to Amy’s blog to get your own HTML code so it shows on your own post. It doesn’t have to be iPhone photos, just camera phone/snapshots of your week!